Did You Know West Oz and Ireland are Kind of Similar? Zac Haynes Does

Did you know there's some form of resemblance to the shallow slabs of West Oz and the draining emerald danger zone of Ireland? Zac Haynes does, and it's why he spent a few months shooting in the wild west before hopping a flight to frigid European shores.

And the results are superb, as outlined in the below edit Pure Joy. It has been a while since we caught up with Mr Haynes, so hit play and then scoot down to hear a bit of insight behind the movie. Enjoy.

Tell us about Pure Joy, where was it shot and over what time period?
Pure Joy was shot on a few trips at home around West Oz over the winter and then on a trip over to Ireland. It was all in the space of about 6 months so it was a pretty insane few months on getting pitted.

Classic Irish horse shot at 3mins 53, how’d it go in Ireland? What was the vibe like?
I love Ireland it’s such an amazing place, so raw and wild. Definitely a very hard place to score waves. It’s one of those places that you could be there for 2 months and only get maybe a couple good days where the winds swell and tide all line up. I love Ireland it’s such an amazing place, so raw and wild. Definitely a very hard place to score waves

You’ve been there before too – how was this session different and what drew you over there?
Yeah I’ve been a couple of time now, I was only there for about 5-6 weeks this past autumn but we got lucky and had heaps of fun waves in that time.

Two very different locales in here, West Oz and Ireland – what was the thinking behind that journey?
West Oz and Ireland, although they are so different to one another a lot of the waves are quite similar, heavy short slabs on shallow reef that really get the heart going and that’s the kind of surfing I enjoy most.

How d’ya find going full rubber surfing in Ireland?
Yeah, it’s definitely freezing and a lot of rubber is required to stay warm but I enjoy that part of it, it adds to the adventure. It kind of feels like you're suiting up for battle putting the whole kit on. But it does really suck when it’s icy cold and you forget to hang your suit out to dry.

And it’s been a while since your last clip, what’s been going on in the world of Zac?
A lot of grovelling [laughs] sometimes it can be a while between drinks when things don’t line up. It was a slow start to last year. There wasn’t too many good clean swells at home for the start of the winter and I missed a few days then things just didn’t fall into place for me and that was frustrating but you can’t get every swell all the time.

Any plans for this year?
I’ve got a few trips I’d like to do this year so hopefully they fall into place. Apart from that, the plan for this year is to get even more pitted than last year and just enjoy surfing everyday.